Assignment: Midway Company Performance Summary Guidelines
In a professional career, one may be called upon to conduct research and deliver findings in professional settings. No matter how extensive the research or accurate the conclusions, a weak presentation can undermine an argument. A presentation is a tool to help make an argument. When creating presentations, students develop skills in researching an issue, synthesizing the information, organizing data logically, and presenting findings in an effective manner.
You will prepare a five- to six-slide PowerPoint presentation that describes the progression of your Capsim company during Competitive Rounds 1 through 3. Your audience consists of new board members for your company's board of directors, and the presentation is intended to quickly bring them up to speed.
In referring to Foundation FastTrack, describe the progression of your Capsim company during Competitive Rounds 1 through 3 relative to the following:
I. Your Product
Pay particular attention to the sections on the low-tech segment, high-tech segment, and perceptual map.
i. Where is your product positioned? (Low-tech? High-tech?)
ii. Does your product fit the consumers' desires for the product segment?
iii. How did the release data of your product impact its performance?
II. Production Analysis
Pay particular attention to the sections on R&D, capacity, and funding your plant improvements.
i. What is your production schedule?
ii. How did capacity for your product(s) change over the years?
iii. How did automation change over the years? What impact did it have on your organization?
iv. Did you discontinue a product?
III. Market Segmentation
Pay particular attention to the sections on market segmentation, pricing, the low-tech segment, the high-tech segment, and the contribution margin.
i. What is the price of your product?
ii. What was your promotional budget?
iii. What was your sales budget?
iv. What was the sales forecast for each product?
v. What were the accounts receivable (A/R) and accounts payable (A/P) implications of the decisions?
IV. Financial Performance
i. How did you pay for your R&D expenses?
ii. How did you pay for marketing expenses?
iii. How did you fund your production activities?
iv. Did you buy back stock?
v. Did you retire bonds?
vi. Did you take an emergency loan?
vii. Did you pay dividends?
viii. What is your cash percentage?
Use bullet points, graphs, charts, and relevant images in the slides. Further, since you will not actually be giving this presentation in person, use the notes section to write out what you would say if you were.
This assignment is your opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of your Capsim company. Use the checklist below to guide the development of your presentation.
- Articulate the progression of the Capsim company in a well-organized and clear manner.
- Appropriately synthesize information, organize the data logically, and present findings in an effective and efficient manner.
- Use innovative and creative methods that are reflective of your Capsim company. Remember that you are seeking to quickly update your company's board of directors, so knowing your audience and tailoring your message to the audience is crucial. Present and organize the information in a way that is appropriate and relevant for the intended audience.
- Create a professional presentation that adheres to the principles of an effective presentation (below) while properly citing all relevant sources.
Principles of an Effective Presentation
• You may utilize a product such as PowerPoint or Google Presentation to create your presentation.
• There are various template designs that you can find on the web for your presentation. Before selecting a specific style, however, consider your presentation from the perspective of your audience. Distracting backgrounds, large blocks of text, all uppercase fonts, elaborate font styles, grammatical errors, and misspellings are distracting. Be consistent with the style of text, bullets, and sub-points in order to support a powerful presentation that allows your content to be the focus.
• Each slide should include your key point(s). Do not place large blocks of text on the visual. Your presentation is not a means of presenting a short paper. In an actual presentation, you would not read directly from your slides but rather use them as prompts.
• Any notes or narration you would use in delivering this presentation to a group should be included in the notes section of the slide.
• References should be listed at the bottom of the slide in slightly smaller text.
• Use clip art, AutoShapes, pictures, charts, tables, and diagrams to enhance but not overwhelm your content.
• Be mindful of the intended audience and seek to assess the presentation's effectiveness by gauging audience comprehension (when possible).